October 31, 2003	Friday	Ramazan 4, 1424

NEW DELHI, Oct 30: Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes says he is considering slapping sedition charges on opposition leader Sonia Gandhi for defaming him over a coffin purchase scandal.

In an interview with the BBC’s Hard Talk programme to be telecast on Friday, Mr Fernandes says he is seeking legal advice on the subject from the attorney general.

“The way the leader of the opposition (Sonia Gandhi) has been going about with this particular issue has had a very bad impact on the morale of the troops,” Fernandes said, describing the accusations as “a lie”.

The scam broke in Dec 2001, when auditors questioned the purchase of coffins for about 2,000 dollars a piece when they were available for as little as 172 dollars elsewhere.

The coffins were purchased to bring the bodies of Indian troops who were killed in the Kargil conflict in 1999.

The scam stalled many sessions of India’s parliament last year with the opposition demanding Fernandes’ resignation and Sonia Gandhi accusing him of having made money out of a major national tragedy.

In the BBC interview, Fernandes said the Congress chief was maligning him and that the deal was concluded before he became defence minister in April 1998.

The minister said while he was contemplating sedition charges, “how exactly one should proceed against her is something I’m leaving to my lawyers to decide”.

Fernandes also claimed the media had magnified the scam out of proportion.

“All available material was passed on to them when this whole thing was blown up in parliament.

“And yet till date the press continues to talk about Coffingate. There is no Coffingate...” he said.—AFP